Shamgar, Judge

The name Shamgar is of Hebrew origin, which means “sword”. It is also the name mentioned twice in the Book of Judges. For instance, in Judges 3:31 of the New International Version Bible, it was indicated that Shamgar was the son of Anath. He was also the same man who successfully struck down and defeated 600 Philistines using an ox goad as a weapon. Moreover, this man handled saving Israel at one point in his life. He can be found on the Biblical Timeline starting at 1354 BC.

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In the Bible

Judge Shamgar, in the Book of Judges, was a great man who was able to drive away the Philistines and prevent them from invading the Israelite regions. Using an ox goad, he was able to slaughter 600 foreign invaders in the region. Another occasion where Shamgar was mentioned was in the Song of Deborah. In the scriptures, this man was presented as one of the previous rulers of the land. He ruled at a time where the roads in his land were abandoned, and there was barely any progress in the village life.

In the first accounts on Shamgar, there was no introduction given nor any conclusion and reference to the period that he ruled the land. There were also a few other ancient manuscripts were brief narrations on the life of Shamgar were presented after the story of Samson instead of being mentioned right after the narrative on Ehud. According to scholars, this is a more logical and more original location of Shamgar’s story in the scriptures.

Who is Shamgar?

The brave acts of Shamgar as presented in the scriptures had some similarities to what Shammah did, the courageous son of Agee. In the books of Samuel, Shammah was presented as “one of the Three”, which was a group of warriors during the time of King David. Based on scholars, the similar person was presented in this part of the Bible, and that the text was only moved from the Book of Judges and into the current location in the Song of Deborah.

There were also claims among scholars that the person was originally Shammah, yet he was only influenced by the man named Shamgar in the accounts presented in the Song of Deborah. Furthermore, in another instance that Shamgar was mentioned in the Bible, this associated the man with the collapse and difficulty in the life of the Israelites. Hence, there were speculations by scholars that Shamgar was a foreigner who handled the low period of the Israelites instead of being a great ruler.

It is also worth noting that Shamgar was believed to be a Hittite, and that his name might be similar to the one who was associated with Sangara, who was the Hittite ruler of Carchemish. Other accounts on Shamgar pointed out that the terms “son of Anath”, which was often linked with his name, was only a royal title. Some scholars also assume that he may also be Sisera’s father. However, further studies need to be carried out to determine the actual roles of this person in the scriptures.

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